South Spotlight | Spectres prevail on Penn's 38

Featured image: Rachel Louise - Rachel Louise Photography @rachellouisephotographyau

Dylan Penn starred with 38 points to show the way for the Nunawading Spectres in the 98-91 road win over the Diamond Valley Eagles as the race for top two NBL1 South spots continues to be fascinating.

The Eagles were back home at Diamond Valley Sports and Fitness Centre needing to win to stay alive in the playoff hunt as they played host to a Spectres team having again won three straight to be knocking on the door of the top two.

The two teams would go on to play an entertaining affair and while Diamond Valley never went away, Nunawading did keep them at arm's length most of the evening despite never leading by more than eight points.

By the end, the Spectres secured the seven-point victory to improve to a 15-5 record with four wins in-a-row while the Eagles are now 7-12 and with three straight defeats are all but out of the top 10 race.

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While Diamond Valley never went away, Nunawading had a degree of control most of the evening ending up shooting 49 per cent from the field to 44 along with going 20/37 from the foul line to 15/18.

The Spectres also pulled down 21 offensive rebounds to 13 but the Eagles stayed in touch thanks to going 10/26 from three-point territory.

Dylan Penn was the star of the night for Nunawading with 38 points, five rebounds and five assists on 15/20 field goal shooting.

Dyson King-Hawea added 19 points and nine rebounds for the Spectres, Christian D'Angelo 15 points, four boards and three assists on 4/8 three-point shooting, Kingsley Box 10 points and eight rebounds, and Ben Griscti nine points and four boards.

Xavier Bledson had a hot start for Diamond Valley with 18 points in the first half on his way to 26 for the game with 4/9 three-point shooting.

Archie Woodhill also provided 21 points, three rebounds and two assists, Mirko Djeric 20 points and eight assists with 4/7 shooting from deep, and Ryley Haywood eight points, two rebounds and two assists.

Coming into the game and Diamond Valley had to win to stay in the playoff hunt while Nunawading also had to keep winning as they try and move back into the top two setting the stage for a terrific contest.

It was the Spectres leading 28-26 by the end of the first quarter with Dylan Penn already up to nine points with his team shooting 12/19 while Xavier Bledson had 12 points for the Eagles who were going at 8/16 as a team with 5/8 from three-point territory.

The scoring dried up for both teams in the second term with Nunawading only adding 16 points on 5/19 shooting and Diamond Valley 13 points while going 5/21.

That saw the Spectres leading 44-39 at the half with Penn up to 17 points on 8/12 shooting from the floor while Bledson had 18 for Diamond Valley on the back of hitting from 4/7 from downtown.

Penn had another eight points in the third quarter and helped the Spectres open up an eight-point lead by three quarter-time before maintaining control through the last stanza to complete the seven-point victory to make it four straight.

The Eagles now back up to take on Geelong United on the road on Sunday while the Spectres are next in action on Thursday night against the Kilsyth Cobras away from home.

NBL1 SOUTH 2026 SEASON | FIRST NATIONS ROUND

DIAMOND VALLEY EAGLES 91 (Bledson 26, Woodhill 21, Djeric 20)

NUNAWADING SPECTRES 98 (Penn 38, King-Hawea 19, D'Angelo 15)